CarpetBossPro Blog — Tech App

A Carpet Cleaning App That Runs in the Phone's Browser: iPhone, Android and No App Store

Every carpet tech already carries a phone. Some carry the newest iPhone, some carry a three-year-old Android with a cracked corner, and the helper you hired last month might switch phones twice before summer. A tech app that only works on one kind of device, or that needs a store download and an account per person, turns into a project before the first job is cleaned.

Why the Browser Matters

The big picture of the tech app is covered in Carpet Cleaning App: The Complete Guide for Carpet Cleaning Companies and Their Techs. This guide is about the plain question of how it gets onto the phone.

The CarpetBossPro tech app runs in the phone's web browser. On an iPhone that is usually Safari, and on Android it is usually Chrome. The tech opens the address you give them, signs in with your company login and their personal PIN, and they are looking at today's jobs. There is nothing to approve in an app store, nothing to wait on, and no version of the app that only some techs have.

Because it runs in the browser, an update on our side reaches every tech the next time they open it. Nobody on the crew is stuck on an old version that is missing a button the office is talking about.

Installing It to the Home Screen

Opening a browser and typing an address every morning gets old fast. That is why the app can be installed to the home screen. Once it is, it gets its own icon and opens full screen, just like any other app on the phone.

• iPhone: open the app in Safari, tap the share button, then choose Add to Home Screen.
• Android: open the app in Chrome, tap the menu, then choose the install or add to home screen option.

Do this once with each tech during their first ride-along and they will never think about it again. Put the icon on the first screen, near the phone and map apps they already use all day.

No Company Phones Required

Some carpet companies buy a phone or tablet for every van. That works, but it means another bill, another device to charge, and another thing left on the dashboard in the summer heat. Others let techs use their own phones. CarpetBossPro works either way.

If techs use their own phones, the personal PIN keeps things clean. Each person signs in as themselves, so their jobs, photos and clock-ins are tied to them. When someone leaves the company, the office turns off their PIN and their access ends, without anyone collecting a device. If you do keep a shared van phone, each tech still signs in with their own PIN, so the record shows who actually did the work.

What Works on the Phone

Everything a tech needs during the day runs in the same app:

• The day's jobs in route order
• One-tap navigation to each address
• The job card with areas, rooms, carpet type, method, add-ons and access notes
• Past notes from earlier visits
• The carpet cleaning checklist
• Start, Skip and Complete
• Before-and-after photos from the phone's camera
• Card-on-file charge when the job is completed
• The time clock

The on-the-way and arrived texts to the customer go out automatically, so the tech is not opening a separate texting app between houses.

Tips for Phones on a Carpet Van

A carpet van is hard on phones. Water, hot hoses, chemicals in the van and cold mornings in winter all take their toll. A few habits help:

• Keep a charger in every van. Navigation, photos and GPS use battery. A dead phone at 2pm means the afternoon is back on paper.
• Use a case and a mount. A dash mount keeps navigation visible and keeps the phone off the floor mat.
• Dry hands before photos. A wet screen misreads taps. A towel on the van door handle solves most of it.
• Turn on location for the browser. Navigation and crew GPS need it.
• Leave space for photos. A phone with a full camera roll can struggle to take more.

Mixed Crews, Same App

A typical carpet company has a mix: the owner on a newer iPhone, a lead tech on Android, a helper on whatever was cheapest. With a browser app, everybody sees the same screens and the same buttons. When you train someone, you can hand them your phone or look over theirs and it is the same app. The next step after getting it on the phone is signing in, covered in Logging In to the Carpet Cleaning App: Company Login Plus a Personal PIN.

To see how the phone side connects to dispatch, the Waiting List and billing, visit the CarpetBossPro carpet cleaning app page.